meat

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The flesh of an animal eaten as food.

   He doesn't eat meat, only vegetables.

2. 2
   noun

   The most important or substantial part of something.

   The second chapter is the real meat of the book.

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Simplified etymology

Meat has existed since Old English and originally meant food in general, a sense preserved in sweetmeat and the proverb “one man’s meat is another man’s poison.” It is related to mete, “to measure,” and to mate through the idea of sharing food. The word ultimately belongs to an ancient root also represented by meditate.

From Middle English mete, from Old English mete (“food”), from Proto-West Germanic *mati, from Proto-Germanic *matiz (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to drip, ooze; grease, fat”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian Miit (“meat”), Danish mad (“food”), Faroese and Icelandic matur (“food, meal”), Norn mader (“food”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish mat (“food”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍄𐍃 (mats, “food”). A -ja- derivation from the same base is found in Middle Dutch and Middle Low German met (“lean pork”), from which Dutch met (“minced pork”) and German Mett (“minced meat”) derive,…

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